The beach, late Monday

[intheeyeofthebeholding]

Travis had said it wouldn't work, but he hadn't yet said it was dangerous, either, and Jon knew people sometimes did bonfires on the beach, so...here he was, on the beach. With an ever-growing pile of luggage, matches, and quite a bit of accelerant.

He'd let Summer know about what he was doing, and he'd planned it with Irene, after all, so he had no doubt word would get out.

Self-loathing was absolutely going to be the basis of this fire. The more it came back, the more tinder it could be.


[Baggage fire! All invited!]

Comments

[flamesburned]

Liz nodded as she looked back up at Dwight, avoiding having to look at that bag, “yes please,” she said quietly. She wrapped her arms around her and shivered, even though it was not cold, especially with that fire going.

[alwaysonguard]

Dwight had the offending bag taken care of in record time. As he turned around he saw Liz shiver and grabbed the jacket he had just taken off before coming over. He knew it wouldn't be hot near the bonfire but the walk back across the island might and he figured better safe than sorry.

"You ok, Liz?" he asked as he set down the knapsack he had been carrying and handed her the jacket.

Another trunk with 'terrible coping mechanisms' conveniently appeared and Dwight took a seat.

[flamesburned]

"Thank you," Liz said softly as she accepted his jacket and put it on and there was another pause as she hesitated and then, "no ... not really," she said softly, "it's ... it's been a lot,"

[alwaysonguard]

"Would be hard for most people under normal circumstances. But this...." he said with a wave around at the scene around them. "This would be a bit much for anyone."

Oh and look, the "Haven", "Bullet Trouble", and "Lizzie" bags were back.

"I'd say there was a reason and something to learn from it but..... no. Even I am not that optimistic. The day sucks," he said simply as he grabbed the first two bags and heaved them into the fire.

He picked up the last bag and set it down next to the knapsack and stared at it a moment, the combination of the "Lizzie" bag and the "Amaya and Kristoff" bag felt like a punch in the gut, but he knew he would never be able to get rid of those.

[flamesburned]

Liz couldn’t help but stare at the bags that were appearing for Dwight and then she felt guilty for staring and turned her head slightly as another trunk with ‘sinner’ appeared and she winced at that.

“It’s … being reminded of all these memories, I … I try and not dwell on them but a day like this … everything just keeps flooding back and …it’s like I make all this progress in accepting that it all happened but then I feel like I just go back to square one and I’m back at the beginning again,” she admitted quietly.

[alwaysonguard]

"It's hard to keep ahead of the past," Dwight agreed with a nod, knowing that his "Unaddressed Trauma" bag wasn't just showing up for no reason there buddy. He had also seen some of the labels on Liz's bags and some of them sounded familiar.

"I think... what I'm taking from a day like this," Dwight said with a slow and thoughtful sigh "is that some of the emotional baggage is ours and ours alone to deal with as we are the ones creating it. Other bags... stem from what others think and say and feel about us. That isn't always something we can 'fix'. I have bags I wont ever be rid of" he said with a nod towards the three at his feet. "I'll gladly carry those and try and manage the others on the bad days, like today."

He gave Liz a sad smile. "Easier said than done I know. But remember, you aren't going through it alone, even if it feels that way right now."